Erin Talkin', ye-a

It's back to Cambridge for me. I was getting spoiled by working in Lowell for the past three weeks. My wake-up time was 7:30 while working here in Lowell; today I woke up at 5:30 a.m. I thought it was like 2:30 or 3:00 a.m., since it was completely pitch black outside. It's depressing to wake up when it's dark! It didn't start getting light out until I hit Cambridge, but by then it was time to crawl into my office in the scary big courthouse. Yes, I am being overly dramatic, but I was a little sad, okay? I thought to myself, maybe I need one of those light boxes that gradually get brighter and brighter to wake you up. Then I just imagined Jay getting really annoyed with the glaring beams of light at 5:30 in the morning. But THEN I thought, hey, I could get him one of those sleep masks! But then I'd be purchasing lots of things, and they're things we don't really need.

But Certain Dri antiperspirant? That's a product worth purchasing.

Today we looked at a house in Ashland we really loved. Everything was exactly as it was in 1960 when it was built. As we discussed putting an offer down, Jay's dad noticed that the foundation in the back was bulging out. After further inspection, we concluded that there were some serious issues with the foundation.


So... Chestnut Street, Ashland... GONE!




Carlton Drive, Holliston... GONE!



Leigh Street, Framingham... GONE!



Moulton Road, Southborough... GONE!

We'll probably lose a few more, so stay tuned.

Abe really does hate baths. I finally decided to bathe the beast when I got home from work today. He must have known it was time because he immediately ran into his cage and wouldn't come out. (This pic is him postbath, and he retreated to his cage again and began growling at me... maybe he just hates getting his picture taken?)

I worked in the criminal session in Lowell today. There are lots of gangs in Lowell, I'm learning. Yeah... I'm afraid if I say too much there will be repurcussions. So we'll just leave it at that, that I'm aware that there is a lot of gang activity in Lowell. Mm-hmm.

Jay's the nicest boy in the world. He decided to call in sick today and take advantage of a day off, so since I was working in Lowell today, we decided to have lunch together. I drove back home to find Jay wheeling out a cooler full of tasty foods, like turkey sandwiches for me (out of 17 kinds of deli turkey, he asked for the best) with mayonnaise and veggies and dip, and salt and vinegar chips, and pickles! Yeah, pickles! He told me that he didn't remember if I liked mayonnaise or not (even though one of my nicknames is "Mayonnaise Pants" because I always spill mayonnaise on my pants), so he made me a sandwich with mayonnaise, then thought I might not like the mayo, so he made another one without mayo, but stopped paying attention so he actually DID put mayo on it. It was cute. So he had packed up a delicious tasty lunch, and we went down to the Merrimack River and ate lunch by the water. It was so nice! (He got me flowers, too... awww!) After lunch he dropped me off at work and took my car home. When he came to pick me up, he had cleaned and vacuumed my whole car and went through the car wash! Whatta guy!

Mourning the death of our dream homes...


Leigh Street, Framingham... GONE!


Moulton Road, Southborough... GONE!

Check back for more updates of houses we bid on but LOSE!

This is what happens when your dog gets too excited about sniffing the ground.

Yes, it's a carpenter ant just hanging out in Abe's beard. Weirdo dog...

Jay and I have found a wonderful house that we are so excited about. We had already put an offer down on a house in Southboro that we really liked, but the negotiations weren't going very well. Then our realtor brought us to this house and we absolutely loved it. We went back the same day with Jay's parents and his grandmother to see it, and they all loved it. I showed my mom the website, and SHE loved it. So we put an offer down on that, and so cross your fingers! We should hear back tomorrow. My tummy hasn't hurt this bad since I messed up "From a Distance" at my 9th grade piano recital!

As I was updating Alley Central, I came across this web site: Dragon World War II. (To see the reason I stumbled upon it, go to Alley Central.) Anyway, scroll on down to "WILLI" Heer Flammenwerfer". It's frightening. Just the name, Flammenwerfer, frightens the bejesus out of me. I apologize for the slur, but Germany freaks me out.

Some great news for our friends, Mike and Dani -- they just got officially engaged! Congratulations, guys! We told all the alley folks about the engagement, and the reactions ranged from, "That's great! I'm so happy for you!" to "Biggest freakin' mistake you'll ever make, sucker!" So we found out that many different people have many different reactions to the idea of marriage. I personally like the idea of marriage but not the idea of weddings.

Another thought I felt the need to make into a paragraph: the Rib'n Brews fest is today! It should be be something like this. I actually finally got in touch with our old friend Paul from college, so hopefully he'll be there. A few people actually thought Rib'n Brews was Ribbon Bruise, and they were like, "What the heck kind of place IS Lowell??" But no, it's Rib (as in a barbeque championship) 'n Brews (as in a microbrew competition).

I was sent to work in the Lowell courthouse for the rest of the week. This is good, because we live in Lowell and it takes me all of 3-5 minutes to get to work. I got a call today today asking me if I wanted to stay in Lowell until around the 22nd because the court reporter I'm filling in for is very very sick (she's in the hospital, sadly). I said, "Okay..." I use the ellipses because I had just set my whole office up in Cambridge, printer and all. I was feeling good. I even had a key. Then today I had to drive aaaaall the way back to Cambridge to take everything OUT of my office and stow it in my car. I don't do well mentally when I'm prepared for one thing and then something unexpected happens. It throws me way off. But at least I can take Abe for a walk at lunch.


Speaking of Abe, I woke up with a start at around 5 this morning feeling like Abe had just taken a big chomp on my toe. It hurt! I yelled and grabbed my foot. Jay woke up to find that Abe was on the other side of the bed, and he said, "Did he really bite you? He's way over here." I said, "Ow, yeah, he did!" My toe really did hurt, I could still feel where his tiny little teeth knawed into me. I started becoming less and less groggy, and gradually realized that Abe most likely didn't bite my foot, I just had an incredibly random dog-bite phantom pain. It was very bizarre. I wasn't even dreaming about Abe. I was dreaming that Jay and I were driving on Dutton Street and there was a guy with no shirt on in the car ahead of us and he had a really hairy back, and Jay kept calling him "Mod". So I'm still not sure if Abe bit me. If he did, shame on him. If he didn't, then we put him in his cage for nothing.

So I've been focusing more on the alleyparty.com. I apologize. My brother Dave's wedding was Sunday. It was a lot of fun. It was at the Sturbridge Host Hotel in Sturbridge, MA. The ceremony was very nice. My dad gave a toast that made everyone cry.

So out internet and cable TV were out for a few days, and I call Comcast only to find out that they shut OUR service off instead of our ex-upstairs neighbors. So the new neighbors were getting our service fo' free! I felt like I was back at the Broadway apt. in Arlington...

And as always, everyone should join us in the alley for the Rib'n Brews festival. We're having people over around 3:00. Please show up and help us drink the microbrew!